Matsushita to Buy VCR Transistors From Motorola

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., maker of Panasonic, Quasar and Technics products, said Thursday that it will buy about 5 million transistors a month from Motorola Inc. beginning this month.

The announcement in Tokyo follows an agreement between the companies made earlier this year. It marks the first time a Japanese consumer electronics maker has made large purchases of semiconductor devices custom-made by a U.S.-based company.

The transistors will come from a Motorola factory in Malaysia, so the sales won’t help American workers or the U.S. trade balance, but Motorola spokesman Jeffrey Gorin said it was a good sign for other sales. “We see a thawing of trade restrictions,” he said.

Motorola’s sales of transistors to Matsushita are scheduled to rise to 10 million a month in about a year.